The Race to Scale in Solar Electronics: Tigo Banks $18M

Photo Courtesy of Swenson Solar The value proposition for distributed solar electronics was once in doubt. But that doubt seems to have been quashed by the sheer success of panel optimizer firms like Tigo and SolarEdge , microinverters from leader Enphase along with Enecsys, and integrated AC module electronics from SolarBridge and ArrayPower , as well as eIQ's offering. This new market was further validated by the entrance of inverter incumbents SMA and Power-One into the space. All of the firms claim improved energy harvest and ease of installation from using their distributed architectures. Big U.S. residential solar installers, solar leasing, and residential PPA companies have started to become comfortable with the new breed of distributed electronics, be they microinverters or DC-to-DC approaches. In what is now officially a serious race, these firms must scale, partn...